


Take To the Sky

by VolxdoSioda



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Canon? What Canon?, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Teasing, learning opportunities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 08:23:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16761502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: Shaun Hastings is an Assassin. That means learning to run and jump and climb like one (even if he doesn’t want to).Thankfully, he has one of the best teachers available to help him.





	Take To the Sky

Dawn over Monteriggioni is a beautiful sight to behold. Shaun can’t deny that, even as he shivers as he climbs out onto the rooftop, eyes scanning the horizon. There’s just enough light to see by, and the quiet makes it peaceful. Soothing, even. 

Which is what he needs, given why he’s here.

“Ready to go?” Desmond asks, already done up in his hoodie - black - blinking golden eyes at him like he would actually doubt what Shaun is. 

“No,” Shaun snaps, irritable. “And you wouldn’t be either if you were me.”

Desmond smiles one of those half-smiles he’s learned from one of his many brothers or sisters lost in time. It still boggles Shaun’s mind that the layabout bartender that came to them wanting to avoid the mould of the Assassin fits so beautifully into the image. “You’ve nothing to fret over,  _ mio fratello.  _ We’re all graceless when we first take flight. I don’t expect you to do anything special except find your balance today.”

“And land on my  _ face  _ several dozen times,” Shaun mutters, ignoring the warmth Desmonds little nickname brings him. He still doesn’t want to believe Desmond can so casually accept him into their ranks, especially out on the field, where Shaun is furthest from comfortable. Desmond’s explained it before -  _ “a brother is a brother, no matter where they are.”  _ \- but it doesn’t unboggle Shaun’s mind any. 

Desmond shakes his head. “I’ll catch you if you fall,” he says calmly, and walks to the edge of the roof. “We’ll do some simple roof-to-roof jumps. Don’t push yourself - if you don’t think you can make it, don’t attempt it.”

“What happened to being bold?” Shaun demands, following his… ugh,  _ mentor  _ off the first edge and onto the roof of the next building. The jump leaves his stomach clenching nervously, but he manages, and they keep going.

“Boldness only serves you when you have the necessary skill to back it up.”

“Bayek tell you that?”

“Everyone has told me that.”

“Even La Volpe?”

Desmond grins back at him, all teeth. “ _ Especially  _ La Volpe.”

Why the thief and Desmond get on so well, Shaun will never understand. Maybe it’s an Ezio thing. 

“Well, that’s lovely-eh!”

His shoe catches a shingle, and his step forward turns stumbling. He manages a single “Oh fuck!” before he’s off the side of the roof, unable to stop himself--

A hand grabs his, and he manages to get his feet under him to stop himself hitting the side of the building.

“See?” Desmond says, and it doesn’t sound mocking. Only far too understanding. “Graceless. Always know your footing - don’t go assuming anything. C’mon, up you get.”

He pulls Shaun up - Shaun would help, but his legs are feeling a little wobbly right now and his heart’s going a bit too fast in his chest. Adrenaline has never been kind to him. Thankfully, Desmond has no issue with hauling him up and then crouching beside him to wait it out until his legs no longer want to give out. 

“Thanks,” he manages at last, when his breath isn’t coming out quite so quick. 

Desmond hums, straightening. “Shall we continue?”

_ No, actually I’d like to go home and forget all about this whole idea,  _ Shaun thinks. He doubts Desmond will let him leave though, and truth be told there’s a slightly sour note to the idea. He’s never quit anything once he’s started on before, and he’s not about to. Even if the item in question feels about as impossible as anything to him right now.

So he nods and follows Desmond across more rooftops, this time minding his footing a little more. “Try to pay attention to how each jump feels, as well as the landing,” Desmond calls back to him. “If you’re running from Templars, you won’t have time to look much before you leap. You’ve got to trust you’ll know it by sensation.”

“Oh grand,” Shaun mutters sourly. But he does that too - tries to memorize the stretch of his legs over each jump, and commit the feeling of landing right versus landing badly to memory. “I don’t even want to think what longer jumps are going to feel like, coming down.”

Desmond grins at him. “If you don’t land right, they can hurt. But we’ll get to that too. Eventually.”

“Oh yes, assuming I’m not dead by the second day.”

“You’ll be fine, Shaun. You’ve got more experience in this than I do, and I turned out fine.”

“Yes well, they’ve also been pouring the memories of your ancestors in your ears, whereas me--”

Desmond pauses, looking back at him. “You have ancestors too, you know. Malik, for one.”

Shaun takes the moment to catch his breath, and will the stitch in his side to stop throbbing with every heartbeat. “How do you know?”

“Checked your ancestry. You’ve got at least five known Assassins in your bloodline - two of which I’ve met.”

“The other three?”

“Haven’t met ‘em, but they’re from eras similar to the ones I’ve visited, if not a bit closer.” Desmond shrugs. “If you want, we could give you Malik’s memories, see how they take.”

“And what, turn me into a second version of you?”

“Not quite. The Bleeding Effect probably won’t happen as badly - you might pick up the language, or suddenly think you’re talking to someone else, or see things that aren’t there, but you won’t have the nightmares or the disjointed memories.”

“How fortunate.”

“Hmm. But I mean… start you off simple. Free-running, or climbing. Take you back out here, let you test it out.”

The idea is… not a bad one. Especially considering the reason for doing all this is so that they have capable Assassins on hand if the Templars should strike while Desmond is gone. He wants Shaun and Rebecca to be able to at the very least, protect themselves, if not escape outright.

“Malik never remained an active Assassin after his injury, did he?”

“Not on record, no. But you try taking a guy like that off the team roster by sticking him in a dusty corner and tell me he won’t re-learn the methods just to spite you.”

If what Shaun’s seen in Altair’s memories is any indication, Malik would have done it just to spite  _ Altair.  _ “It’s not a terrible idea, I suppose. And if it lets us go a little faster, well.”

Desmond nods. “Alright then. I’ll have Rebecca pull the files, and we’ll get started.”

“Today?”

“Today.”

  
  



End file.
